Monthly Archive for: ‘May, 2010’

If you are going to compete in the crowded chocolate cereal market you need the will to take on the big guns. Arguably, it was this kind of thinking that prompted Post Foods to advertise their Cocoa Pebbles with a cartoon showing “Bam-Bam” from The Flintstones taking on and soundly defeating a blond moustachioed wrestler called “Hulk Boulder”. This, it would appear, has hurt the real Hulk’s feelings.

The Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) is continuing to robustly assess complaints about advertising in Australia.In January 2010, it reviewed and ultimately dismissed 24 complaints.Many complaints were in relation to advertisements whose comic nature was con

A decision by the Australian Copyright Tribunal on 17 May ruled that the licence fees paid to the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA) for the right to use music in group fitness classes should increase.The Copyright Tribunal set a new rate of $1 for each attendee at the class or $15 per class (at the gym’s option), representing an annual cost for an average sized gym of $23,400

One of the most important aspects of trade mark ownership is the ability to control the way a brand is used and, accordingly, protect the brand’s reputation. Two somewhat unlikely compatriots, Jessica Watson and Mary MacKillop, show how quickly brand management becomes vital when a person or event hits the public spotlight.

A US District Court has refused an application by Cephalon to dismiss a case brought against it by the FTC in relation to the settlement of a patent dispute between Cephalon and would-be generic manufacturers of Provigil (modafinil), a drug used in the treatment of sleep disorders which recorded $961 million in sales in 2009 alone.

Summary judgment against one of the last remaining free file-sharing giants was handed down by the US District Court in New York last week. LimeWire has continued to facilitate free music and movie file-sharing over the last decade, while its competitors (such as Napster and Kazaa) have been forced to shut down. Following a four year legal battle commenced by 13 major US record labels, LimeWire has now been found liable for inducing copyright infringement.

Following on from the Chinese State Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission’s decision to release guidance on what constitutes a “commercial secret”, the National People’s Congress has amended the PRC Law on State Secrets, a much more significant piece of legislation.

On 29 April 2010, the German Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) handed down a decision that Google is not liable for copyright infringement for displaying copyright protected works as preview pictures (or thumbnails) in Google’s image search results.

The claimant in the proceedings is an artist who maintains a website that displays her works. She alleged that Google had displayed her works as thumbnails whenever her name had been entered as a search term into Google’s search engine.

Some IP Whiteboard team members have a heightened interest in house plan cases from prior involvement. The recent case of Solitaire Homes Pty Ltd v Urban Ventures Pty Ltd[2010] FMCA 185 has therefore not escaped our notice.